Remember to forget you
by gossipgrill
Summary: after suffering in a car accident, Lexie forgot everything. she forgot her life, her friends, and her story. she was hidden away by her family, but when she takes a job interview, people start coming back to her. with a new identity, and a new life, does she want to remember anymore?
1. Chapter 1

1.

It was perfectly fitting, really. The only day... the _only_ day she decided not to take an umbrella with her in the car and God decided to send a flood down onto her, not to mention the flat tire she had just received, just to add to the misery. To make matters worse, this wasn't just any other old day. Not a chance- in fact, it was the day of her interview for the job she _desperately_ wanted.

"Ms. Caroline Thompson?" Someone asked patiently. There was no reply from in the room, so the person cleared their throat and tried again. "Is there a Miss. Caroline Thompson here?" They asked, looking around to see any twitch or movement. There was nothing for another few moments, and just as the person stepped back into the room, she banged the door open and looked around wildly.

"Excuse me, madam, are you Caroline Thompson?" A man asked, seated near her. She nodded whilst she still caught her breath, hunching over herself and resting her hands on her knees. "I, uh, I think they asked for you already." He said calmly, nodding towards the white door.

"Seriously? Thank you so much!" She gasped, taking a moment to compose herself before flattening down her frizzy hair and trying to present herself as professionally as possible. Well, she tried. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, before walking into the room. There were four people sat at a desk, all staring at her silently, yet their gazes felt like a million words booming in her head- they said it all, really.

"Ms. Thompson, is that correct?" An older woman with blonde/grey streaks in it asked.

"Yes, I am." She said, nodding enthusiastically. _Maintain eye contact_ , she remembered her sister giving her a pep talk that same morning on the phone.

"And why are you so late, may I ask?" A man with no hair asked.

"I, uh, that is a good question. I was just driving here when about halfway through my journey, I received a flat tire. This wouldn't have been an issue, were it not for the fact that I do not know _how_ to change a tire, and especially not in this pouring rain." She explained, but her gaze fell on a woman with long blonde hair, who was staring at her as if she had seen a ghost. Were the hand gestures too much? She put her hands down and placed her right hand over her left hand, forming a 'v' with her forearms.

"That's quite alright, Ms. Thompson. I think we understand your... predicament. Especially given the state of your clothes." The older woman replied sympathetically.

"Ms. Thompson... What... What makes you think that you are more capable than our other candidates for taking... this job." The young woman with blonde hair asked, still staring at her in disbelief. It was really rather off putting, and she had no idea what she had done to receive such a look.

"I'm a great people person, as many have told me, and I have great social skills. I, uh, as you can see on my resume, I have volunteered in my past for charities and I also have a lot of experience with family and children, as I had three other sisters, and two of my sisters had children when they were young. I've been told by my sisters the I can light up a room by just smiling, and I have a great knowledge all around, so I could really teach any subject to any grade."

"And why do you not have a specified area?" Another man asked.

"I... I was in a car accident when I was 19. I suffered severe amnesia from the incident, and I can't remember what I majored in in University, or anything from before the accident, to be honest." she said, her voice turning quieter and less confident. She saw the crazy woman run her hands over her face and take a sip of her coffee elegantly.

"I'm sorry to hear that." The bald man said.

* * *

All in all, she thought the interview went pretty well. Now, she wasn't expecting any miracles to occur, but she was really confident about how it had gone. Apart from the really weird woman, everything had gone well, and they seemed pretty willing to move past her whole amnesia ordeal, unlike many other jobs she had applied to. Her eyelids felt like bricks, and she was practically asleep when the tv channel changed, so she sat up and rubbed her eyes, trying to focus her vision.

"And now, it's breaking news with Samuel Vesty and Georgia Mann." She squinted at the screen and saw the outline of a road and the two famous Virginian reporters at the scene of what seemed like a highway incident. She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth, turning the volume up.

"There's not much we can really say, can we Sam?" Georgia asked, looking around. "It's just awful. The cars look like they've been bulldozed and... I just don't even want to imagine what would have happened to the people inside." She shivered for effect.

"Yeah, Georgia, that's pretty much it. It's carnage, really, and if you were thinking of travelling towards Washington or New York, don't even try it." He said, sending a worried glance to the road. She stared at the screen in horror.

She couldn't remember anything about the crash. All she could remember was waking up and having no idea who she was, where she was, and why she was there. She didn't know if she had been the only one involved (but she couldn't, unless she had been driving illegally, which her mother reassured her she hadn't been.) or if anyone else had suffered as badly as her (or worse). All she knew was that she had no idea who she was, and that was never going to change. She couldn't remember her

"You know, you shouldn't be watching that. I don't want you to start thinking about..." Her sister, Lizzie, trailed off.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, it just came on and then I felt like I had to watch." She apologised.

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're okay." She said, sitting down next to her.

"I just... I wonder, you know? What was my life like? What were my friends like? Who were my friends? And yet, here I am, freeloading off of you..." She sighed.

"Line, don't. I don't mind taking care of you. You're my _sister_. I'm supposed to look after you now that mom and dad aren't here." She said, taking her hand in hers.

"I know... I just wish I could remember everything. I mean, I can't remember anything apart from Virginia, which is just crazy."

"It's not." Her sister reassured her.

"It _is_ ," She insisted, "and I'm serious about the freeloading thing. I know you and Cal don't care about having me over, but... I had a job interview today. I want to start paying you back. You've already given me so much." She said, tearing up a little bit.

"Line..." She started, but Line shook her head and squeezed her hand.

"I'm paying you back. And I want to live in my own place eventually. The school I'm hoping to teach at is only an hour away, in Washington, but I'm going to use the omen I have saved up from mom and dad, and I'm going to move somewhere closer to Washington. I'm done being the fragile amnesiac, and I want to be on my own. I'm nearly twenty four, for God's sake." She mumbled, and her sister nodded understandingly.

"Well, if that's what you want, then I'm not gonna stop you. Cal and I are fine with helping you look around for houses and stuff, by the way. But please don't forget that you're always welcome here."


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Two weeks had passed since the interview when she woke up to the awful sound of ringing, which she immediately recognised as the doorbell.

"Caroline, could you get that?" She heard Lizzie shout from her room. She rolled her eyes and pulled herself out of her comfortable bed, pulling on an oversized jumper over her pyjamas. She trudged down the stairs and opened the door to see the crazy young woman stood at nervously at her door.

"Caroline, is it?" She asked anxiously, wringing her hands together.

"Uh, yes... I- would you like to come in?" She asked awkwardly, taking a step backwards.

"Oh, um, sure. I'm Meredith, by the way. Meredith Grey." She said, extending a hand. Her fingers were long and thin, and her nails were immaculate, painted a mature nude colour. "And you're Caroline, as we established yesterday." she said comprehendingly, nodding her head. Caroline was caught completely off guard by her sudden charisma, but shook her hand and took her to the kitchen.

"Would you like some tea or coffee?" She asked, putting on the kettle. Meredith shook her head gently, declining her peace offering. "I don't want to sound rude here or anything, but what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to tell you something- it will probably please you, and I am happy to tell you that you got the job, and you can start your training course any time before March, so you've got plenty of time to work things out." She said happily.

"Really? Thank you so much! That's such great news!" She cried, dropping what she was doing and hugging the woman. She froze upon the contact, but hugged her back a little.

"I, uh, we have training courses at the school, so as long as you choose a speciality and start monitoring classes, you are good to go. I have to go and tell some other people they got jobs, too, but I just wanted to pop in and tell you. I, uh, look forward to working with you soon." She said, getting up to leave.

"Oh, really? But you only just got here! I'm sure you wouldn't be a burden, I could ask my sister Lizzie..." She said, tucking her dark purple hair behind her ears.

"No, it's fine, really. I don't think your sister liked me anyways..." She said, pulling on her coat.

"What do you mean?" She asked, observing Meredith's reaction with curiosity, as she realised what she had done.

"Oh, uh, you know, it's a saying from where I'm from." She stuttered lamely.

"And where exactly are you from?" Caroline insisted.

"Um... Washington." She said, walking over to the door and grabbing her bag. "It was lovely taking to you, but I have places to be. See you soon!" She said, waving at her, before leaving. Just as she closed the door, Lizzie walked down the stairs.

"Who was that?" She asked, leaping down the final step. "Ooh, you made some coffee? I can smell it." She smiled, grabbing Line's mug and taking a sip from it.

"It was my, uh, new boss, I think." She said, smiling at her sister.

"You got the job?!" Liz shouted, jumping up and down.

"I got the job!" Line exclaimed, smiling wider than she could remember for a long time.

"Well, I'm taking you out for dinner! Let's go somewhere fancy! And then we can go clubbing, and drinking, and then we'll go stationery shopping..." She trailed off, hundreds of ideas already forming themselves inside her head.

* * *

 _She held a man's hand. The man wasn't her father, and she didn't have any brothers. The man was only a little taller than her, and he had short brown hair. He tucked her hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek in his hand. his hand was warm, and a little moist from the heat of the summer sun. He pulled her in for a kiss that could have lasted hours, and when he pulled back, she had to quit to see his face, since the sun was shining right into her eyes._

 _"I love you." He said, smiling and looking at her as if she were the best thing in the world. She wrapped her arms around him and ran her hands through his short hair, tugging at it a little when it got to his neck._

 _"I love you, too, darling. You're my world." She said, pulling him in for another kiss._

 _"I can't wait to go to the gala next week. I've been waiting for ages. And I'm most happy to be seeing you in a black dress. I'll be damned if any of the guys there try to steal you from me." He whispered, leaning his forehead against hers._

 _"Of course I'd never let them near me." She smiled, pecking his lips again, and again. "You know I'd never let them near me." She giggled when he twirled her around._

 _"But I just won't be able to keep them away from you. I mean, look at you! You're just gorgeous." He said, stumbling a little as she leapt into his arms, but catching himself._

 _"I'll never leave you." She reassured him. "You're my now and you're my future."_

* * *

She woke up with a start, her breathing heavy and her mind in a mess. Was that dream real? Or was it just a figment of her imagination? She turned to look at her clock, and it read 7:02 am. Cal was probably already up, but Liz wouldn't be yet. Line yawned and stretched out her body a little. Then she pulled a baggy jumper on over her pyjamas and pushed her feet into her soft slippers, wriggling her toes. She brushed her hair out of her face and turned on the kettle, an automatic reflex from drinking coffee ever morning, and turned on the tv. A guilty pleasure of hers that few people knew about was her obsession with reality tv shows such as The Real Housewives, or KUWTK. Both provided endless entertainment, and she binge watched series through series. However, the only shows that was currently showing that she liked was Gossip Girl, so she put it on and waited for her water to boil.

Liz got up 2 hours later and came downstairs with Cal.

"Oh, Line! I forgot to tell you, but I've invited Molly and Sarah for dinner with us on Saturday." She said, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend.

"Yeah? That's cool. We haven't been together as a family since... Mol's birthday? It would be nice to catch up." Line pondered, turning around to her sister who was kissing her boyfriend. Since she had been living with them for ages, she was used to the displays of affection, and she was probably one of the only people they were comfortable kissing around.

"We're going to this really fancy restaurant in Washington. It's going to be amazing!" Lizzie smiled, sitting down on the sofa with her sister.

"I, uh, what would you say is the waiting time to start dating when you've lost all your memory? Hypothetically, of course." She sighed, looking at her smitten sister with jealousy.

"I can't tell if you're being serious or..." Cal said, frowning at her in confusion.

"No, she's being 100 percent serious. I can see it on her face. Line, is this 'cos of Cal and I? Because we can totally keep it pg 13 around you. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable or like you're missing out on something." She said guiltily, sharing a worried glance with her boyfriend.

"Oh, no, no, not at all. I just... Well, I want what you have. Hell, I'm 23 and I can barely remember the last four years. I want someone to be there for me. And I'm so grateful for you Liz, and you too Cal, but I want... I want a... I want a guy with short brown haired blue eyes who takes me to beaches and tells me how much he loves me and takes me to galas and shows mw off when I wear black dresses." She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"Wait... you want a guy with short brown hair and blue eyes? That's _weirdly_ specific." Liz stared at her, biting her lip. "Has someone told you something?"

"About what?" She asked curiously, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Wait... oh my god was this guy, like, a little bit taller than you and always wore the same pair of jeans?" She asked seriously.

"Yes... Why? I had a dream about him last night." She said, getting worried by her sister's strange behaviour.

"Oh my God we have to go to the doctor now." Liz said, jumping up from the sofa.

"Liz what are you talking about?" Cal asked, getting up from his sofa.

"His name was George and he was your boyfriend before the crash. You remembered something!" Liz cried, running upstairs to get changed. Line and Cal followed quickly on suit.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi, everyone. I want to just make a few announcements... First I would like to give a shoutout to the two people who have favourited this- thank you, it really means a lot, even if I would have wanted more, and I would also like to thank Patsy for reviewing- I will keep you updated. Furthermore, I would like to say that this is going to be a really slow burn type of story- the main love interest won't even be introduced until a few more background chapters have passed- so if you want to go straight to the action, skip ahead a few chapters and try and work out what you have missed. Please leave a review/like/follow if you like the story, I am an aspiring author and this is all I can do for now, so even if it's a correction, I would appreciate any feedback. Thank you!**

* * *

3.

"Well, if it isn't Caroline Thompson! I haven't seen you in a long time." Dr. Bourne said. "I hope you come bringing good news?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, actually. I had a memory. A real memory of someone I knew before the accident. I think. But I don't know... you said I'd never get my memory back." She said, confused.

"I did. And I do believe this is a very rare case of progressive retrograde amnesia. That means you have no memories of before, but you could start to develop a few. I don't want you to get your hopes up, because you're not getting your whole memory back, you never are, but you are getting... little snippets. You'll have a few moments every once in a while, I suppose. These cases are very rare, since retrograde cases barely ever get memories back, but I have a friend called Dr. Shepherd who live is Washington, and I know he'd be interested in this case. I know he would be very interested. Would you like to be referred to him or stay with me? It's up to you, but I think he would probably do a better job at understanding this situation than me." He said, grabbing a business card from his pocket.

"We'll take a look at it." Liz said, grabbing the card.

"Yes, please do. Your memory is beginning to return a little, so maybe if you visit old friends, or something like that, we'll see how your brain reacts. And don't worry, it won't cause brain damage."

"That's perfect." Line smiled.

"Okay. I'll just do some routine check ups on you then, Miss. Thompson, if you don't mind." He said, as she lay herself down on his chair and he puled out his notepad.

* * *

"Hey, Liz, can I ask you a question?" Line asked meekly.

"Sure, doll, what is it?" Lizzie smiled, making herself some toast.

"I, uh, who was George? And what was he like?"

"Oh, God, Line I don't know... Okay, there was a group of you. Izzie, George, Amelia, Meredith, April, Sadie, Alex, and then there was a group of my friends, which consisted of Derek, Mark, Addison and Miranda. Molly also had some friends... but the point is that you guys were, like, best friends. And then I remember you being hopelessly in love with George and him being hopelessly in love with you too. So you got together in your sophomore year, and then you stayed together the whole time. You two were inseparable, like peas in a pod. And then there was the crash, and we all thought you were dead from your coma, and he was waiting for you. But then, about a week before you woke up, guess who went and got hit by a bus?" She laughed ironically, as tears streamed down Line's face. "Oh my God, Line, I'm so sorry that wasn't funny. But, uh, yeah... we didn't tell you because he was dead and you didn't remember him and we didn't want to upset you. And then, oh god, I'm so sorry. We hid you away from everyone. The doctors said not to try and trigger a relapse or you could forget everything again, or suffer worse brain damage, so we just left it there. I'm so sorry. You have a right to see them."

"I don't know them, anyway, it's fine. Let's go and see this Dr. Shepherd then, huh?" She asked, wiping at her eyes.

"God, Line, I'm so sorry. Yes, let's go see... oh my God, no way." She said, interrupting herself. She ran over to her computer and started typing away at something.

"Lizzie, what's up?" She asked curiously, walking over to Lizzie's laptop.

"Dr. Shepherd... is Derek. As in, my old best friend Derek, and as far as I'm aware, Meredith's boyfriend Derek." She stated excitedly.

"Meredith?" She asked, her head swarming with information.

"Yes. Meredith, as in your best friend since birth. I don't know... your _person._ " She thought aloud.

"My _person_?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes! Your _person_. As in, the person you go to about everything, like if you killed someone and needed help digging up the body." Liz explained, as if it were obvious.

"Well, I'd love to meet this Derek guy. Ooh, d'you think Meredith would want to see me?" Line plotted excitedly.

"Of course! We can make it a surprise." Liz smiled, picking up her phone and calling the number on the card.

"Derek! Hey, it's Lizzie Thompson. Of course I remember you! Yeah, well, I'm sure you remember my sister Caroline... Yeah, she changed her name after the crash... Yes, well, her doctor... a Dr. Bourne? Yes, that's the one. Anyway, he's recommending us to you for her retrograde amnesia or something like that. Yeah, I'd love to come to yours for dinner or something. And I've heard that someone finally wracked up the balls to ask out Meredith. Well you took your damned time! Anyway, yeah I thought we should bring along my sister dearest and surprise Meredith, and Amy if she's in town? Oh, I see. No worries then. Well, I can do next Tuesday. Great! I can't wait! Okay, see you then. Bye!" She put down the phone eagerly and turned to her sister.

"What do you mean I changed my name after the accident? I thought my name was always Caroline..." She inquired, confused.

"Oh, uh, not exactly. You were called Alexandra originally. We all called you Lexie, but the doctor's said not to risk anything so we changed it to your middle name." She said nonchalantly.

"Well, I want to change it back." She snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Line... what are you talking about?" Liz asked.

"I want my old life back! God, I want George and I want Meredith and I want to be _Lexie_. Caroline's the lame girl who can't even remember what her friends looked like." She snapped, stomping a foot on the ground.

"Are you kidding me? Caroline is the strong, independent young woman who doesn't need memories to have a life. You just got a job from a great school to teach and you're calling that lame?"

"I want to _remember_." She pleaded, clenching her fists.

"Look, you've already remembered George, maybe Derek and Meredith will bring back some more memories, okay? Just calm down for a second." She soothed.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, it's just so frustrating." She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face.

"Don't worry, darling. I get it." She said, rubbing her back.


End file.
